Combustion-engine plant for submarine craft.



P. WINAND.

OOMBUSTIUN ENGINE PLANT FOB SUBMARINB CRAFT.

APPLIUATION FILED 11011.19. 190e.

970,153. Patented sp1.13,191o.

WI77VESSES f [NVE/V701?" @www 41m/mgm PAUL WINAND, 0F COLOGNE, GERMANY.

COIVIBUSTION-ENGINE PLANT FOR SUBMARINE CRAFT.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept. 1.3, 1910.

Application filed November 9, 1906. Serial No. 342,757.

To atl whom rit may concern:

.Be it known that I, PAUL VINAND, englneer, a subject of 'the King ot'Belgium, resident at l Sudermannstrasse, Cologne-oxithe-Rhine, Germany,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Combustion-EngineIlants for' Submarine Craft; and I do hereby declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use.the same. i

In submarine boats it is important in or der to save room and weight toproduce the power' required by means ot' an engine having the smallestpossible dimensions.

inasmuch as, for operating combustion engines during submersion of theboat, the atniospheric air is replaced by oxygen or by substances richin oxygen which are kept or preparel under a pressure higher than thatof the atmosphere, there is advantage in using engines working on thetwo-stroke cycle or engines working on the tounstroke cycle in thecylinders of which greater' combustible 'charges are introduced thancorrespond to the amounts taken by the cylinders under atmosphericpressure. In this way a greater power than with the ordinary four-strokecycle engine is obtained and turthermore the air pump, otherwise neededfor introducing the required amount ot air, is dispensed with since therequired substances are taken from their receivers under pressure. Whenworking at the surface, and therefore with atmospheric air, some of thecylinders olf such an engine are used in carrying out my invention asair pumps for feeding to the other cylinders the amount of air required.and the use of special air pumps is thus dispensed with., In this casethe power required is usually less than when working during submersion.

It is true that afour-stroke cycle engine might be operated without anair pump, the air being drawn in from thev atmosphere directly by thepistons o't' the exigirle; in such a case however the pressure duc tocompression would be less and the economy o't tuel less than when usingsome ot' the cylinders as air pumps. Moreover the power obtained wouldbe less since the cylinders used as pumps will take in air at everyrevolution while in vthe working cylinders the pistons will likewisedraw in air in the usual fashion. As compared with one of the ordinarykind, an engine working as above described, that is with a larger'charge than that which would/till the cylinder under atmosphericpressure works 'with less economy ot' fuel, although with more power, ifthe pressure of the compression 1s the same in both. Now as the powerneeded for cruising speed is considerably less than that for the speedrequired in action, l. arrange some ot' the cylimlers to work in theordinary way with a high rate ot' compression and with the best economyattainable, in order to use them at cruising speed as well when runningduring submersion as when running at the surface. T he other cylindersare arranged to work as above with a larger charge, lilling thecylinders at a higher pres- Isure1 and they are used for obtaining ahigher rate ol' speed. when rainning din'- ing submersion both this setol' cylinders and the other set may be working at the same time and thusthe highest rate of power and of speed may be obtained it' desired.Yi'hen running at the surface i. c. with air, the cylinders` ol theiirst. set, or some ot' them, are used as air pumps for the other set,when a higher rate than the cruising speed is desired. The powerthus'attainable is naturally less than that. attainable when workingunder exclusion ot' the atn'iospheric air. This however is an advantageas a high rate of speed is not practicable with a submarine cral'trunning at the surface.

In applying this method to engines Work ing on the two-stroke cycle,special air pumps may be needed when working with atmospheric air it itis desired to reduce as nun-.h as possible the ditfcrence between thepower attainable at the surface and that attainable when duringsulanersion, because for a given size of cylinder the amount of airneeded is twice as large as for cylinders working on the four-strokecycle. Never theless there will generally be an advantage inusingbesides the special air pumps some ot' the eylindci's as air pumps.It will also be of advantage to have as above one set of the cylindersoperated with a pressure of charge before compression equal or nearlylequal to the atmospheric pressure, in order to use them with the besteconomy for the cruising speed and to haveY another set `of cylindersoperated withla. pressure of charge higher'th'an the atmospheric to beused for obtaining higher speeds. When Working at the surface the iirstsetr is supair pumps and by the special air pump.

The latter is thus assisted in its action by the first set of cylindersof the engine.

The accompanying drawing illustrates the application of my invention toa combustion engine of the four cycle type.

At full output and when Working with air, cylinder 2 serves as t-heworking cylinder and cylinder 1 as the air vpump or charging pump.In'such case, the piston of cylinder l draws in air through the two-Waycock 3 and the valve et, and, on the return stroke, forces it throughthe valve 5 and two-way cock 6 to the cylinder 2, intov which it entersthrough the ports 7, when the piston of cylinder 2 approaches theoutermost limit of its stroke. ln the meantime, the'piston of cylinder 2has drawn in air through the two- Way cock 8 and valve 9, which air atthis juncture fills the cylinder, under atmospheric pressure. To thisair is added that whichis forced in through the ports 7 by the piston ofcylinder 1, so that the cylinder 2 is iilled with air under a pressurehigher than that of theatmosphere. rlhe combustible enters through thevalved port l0 either simultaneously with or later than the air, and theexhaust gases escape from the cylinder 2 through the valve 11 and tWowaycock 12. At decreased output, the cylinder 1 may alone operate. This iseffected by reversing the two-way cock 6 and admitting the combustiblethrough the valved port 13. l The exhaust gases Will then escape AV,through the receptacle 14 and valve 15.

At full load, and when atmospheric air is excluded, both cylinders serveas working cylinders. At decreased load, either the one o-r the othercylinder may serve as the Working cylinder. In the latter case, forinstance, cylinder 1 may serve as the Working cylinder While cylinder 2runs entirely idle. In this event, oxygen is admitted through the pipeland receptacle 14; the cock 6 is so set that residual gases from thecylinder may enter the receptacle through t-he valve 5, and the cock 3is so set that a. mixture of residual gases and oxygen may enter thecylinder from the receptacle through the valve y 4. A portion oftheresidual gases isv not returned to the cylinder, but escapes through thevalve 15, which is so loaded that-the cylinder 1 after the suctionstroke,

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is filled with a mixture lhaving atmospheric pressure, Which takes theplace of the air that would otherwise be drawn in. For increased output,4the cylinder 2 is brought into operation, and its mode of operation isentirely analogous to that of cylinder l.

The loading of the valve is, of course, so

chosen, that the mixture of residual gases and oxygen, admitted through8 and .9, at the end of the outstroke of the piston, fills the cylinderat the same pressure as that of the air when the cylinder Was WorkingWith It will be understood that the specific construction of theindividual parts per se shown in the drawing, is not claimed herein, butonly the general combinations set forth in the claims, the speciiicconstruction of the individual parts being presented in the drawingmerely as illustrative of many others that might be employed for thesame 2. A combustion engine plant for submarine craft, comprisinga'multiple combustion-engine, a pressure receptacle for storing underpressure an oxygenating ele- 'ment, connections for supplying theexplosive charge to one of the cylinders at a pressure of the chargebefore compression equal or nearly equal to that of the atmosphere andfor cutting off the supply to the other cylinder so that the engine mayoperate at reduced -power (as, for instance, at cruising speed), andconnections for supplyin g air to the second cylinder, when a greateramount of poWeris desired and pumping air therefrom into the explosivecharge of the first cylinder at a pressure of the charge beforecompression greater than that of the atmosphere; substantially asdescribed.

3. A combustion engine plant for submarine craft, comprising a multiplecylinder combustion engine, connections for supplying fuel to theseveral cylinders thereof, connections for supplying atmospheric air tosaid cylinders, connections for supplying under-pressure an artificialoxygenating .elementth-ereto, a connection between individual cylinders,and cut-offs for all of said4 connections; whereby'- the severalcylinders- ,may all operate conjointlyl asexpolosion cylinders eitherwith air or with the arti- 'In testimony whereof I have axed my ciaIoxygenating element as the oxidizer signature, in presence of twowitnesses. for the fuel, and whereby, when operating with air anyindividual eylinder may serve I PAUL' WINAND' as an air pump to conveyair under com- Witnesses: y pression into the explosion chamber of anyBESSIE F. DUNLAP,

other cylinder; substantially as described. LOUIS VANDORN.

